


Reverence

by Atlanta_Black



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Fem!Harry, Harriette Potter - Freeform, There are other couples, Tomarry Big Bang 2018, but i'll tag them as it happens, good luck figuring out who they are
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-10
Updated: 2018-09-10
Packaged: 2019-07-10 12:20:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,490
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15949217
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Atlanta_Black/pseuds/Atlanta_Black
Summary: They whisper about a child touched by magic. A child so blessed that even death can't touch her.They whisper about a child that delivered them from darkness.An old man sits in his office and turns a prophecy over and over in his mind.Fate is laughing. And they are burning, burning, burning. Who dared to think they were weak?Luck is grinning, teeth bared. He never did take kindly to old men who thought they could shape the world.Death is smiling. And they are darkness. They are the monster that hides in your chest.Blisteringly angry and ready to take back what is theirs.Children don’t make good soldiers when they don’t care for the cause.Note: this has been abandoned and will not be finished





	Reverence

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first time writing for this pairing and this story is going to really long. Please be patient with me, I'm eternally busy so updating will be slow. 
> 
> @miistical helped with beta-ing and there were a lot of supportive nice people in this challenge. 
> 
> I realize that this is for the tomarry big bang and that there is not much of Tom/Harri happening yet but this is what my brain gave me so.

_I. They are the darkness_

_"Pray."_

"My mouth has never tasted anything as sweet as your name." she whispers. She watches him swallow hard, his hand tightening on her throat.

"How does it feel?" he murmurs, "Knowing that you're betraying everything your parents stood for." she tilts her head back farther, watches the way his eyes follow her hair as it spills down her back.

"How does it feel, being entranced by a girl that brought your reign to an end?" she breathes the words out slowly, pushes her body towards his.

His hand is tight on her hip, on her throat and they are so close together that she feels when he shivers.

"It feels like deliverance."

She laughs, the sound high and bright. "I am the farthest thing from deliverance. I am going to bring the world to its knees. I would have done it with or without you but," she pauses, tilts her head to the side as his hand moves to her hair, "you were such a lovely surprise."

His answering grin is sharp and he presses her into the wall, grips her hip even tighter and she is sure to find bruises there later.

"I am going to take you apart, Harriette Potter. Take you apart until the only thing you can think is my name." he says the words into the skin of her throat and she doesn't tell him that his name has been the only thing that has mattered since she's met him.

He kisses her like a man drowning, like she's the air he needs to survive. It's almost possible to forget where she ends and he begins. His hands in her hair, on her throat, her hip, her nails leaving scratches on his skin. He leaves bruises and she draws blood.

Hermione told her once that watching them kiss was almost as terrifying as watching them fight. They kissed in such a way that she worried they were going to kill each other just to be the dominant one. She had laughed and told Hermione it would take more than Tom Riddle born again to kill her.

She does not know another way to kiss though. Does not know another way to live. There has been something feral hiding in her chest for as long as she can remember. Something bone deep, holy, peering out from between her rib cage and lusting for violence, for blood.

She wants to be great, to have the whole fucking world know who she is. Not because she vanquished a dark lord as a toddler but because she has done great things. Because she has given them no chance but to remember her name. Wanting that is something damning in and of itself.

She wants to be great but there is something unholy, something untamed about wanting to be so great that even the gods know your name.

They were all going to bring this world to its knees. They were going to be eternal, forever, songs sung in honor of their names. Merlin himself couldn't stop them.

_(Famous last words. They could have been great, but before we talk about their downfall let's talk about how they got to this point.)_

 

_II. Fate is laughing_

 

There was once a girl with hair like fire and an attitude reminiscent of the sea. She learned early on that love was only for those who deserved it and that she was not the deserving type. She learned of hate. She learned that the world was cruel. She did not learn kindness, but the world was going to wish she had.

There was a girl named Harri who did not know her own name. She had the word ‘freak’ carved into the space behind her ear and the soft skin in the crease of her knees, and she was born into happiness but thrust into the hands of cruelty.

There was a child who did all she could to please those who should have had her best interest at heart. But adults are cruel and care naught for the innocence of childhood. And she learned what pain felt like and she learned to sit quietly, even if her arm hung oddly or her eyes burned like fire. She learned pain and accepted it as her due.

There was a child gifted by luck and cursed by fate. She had cheated death and against all odds flourished despite the obstacles life threw at her. Harriette Potter grew up in a place that cursed her existence and resented her every breath.

 

.

.

Harriette Potter is 11 years old when Hagrid knocks the door of the cabin down and tells her she’s a witch. She’s 11 years old and she’s positively seething at the injustice of it all. She’s been told her entire life that she’s a freak.

_Changeling. Demon. Too pretty to be anything but useless. Too pretty to be anything but a freak. Monster._

She’s been ridiculed and mocked since before she can remember, but it’s her with the power. Her with the parents that people speak about in reverent tones. Her with the name that causes people to turn into fools.

She’s 11 years old and there is something dark and angry twisting in her chest. Something she has no intentions of getting rid of. She's had darkness weighing down her soul since the day her parents died and that was not going to change now that she was some savior.

Hagrid looks at this tiny girl and all he sees is Lily and James staring back. He looks at her and sees hope. He doesn’t see the darkness swimming in her eyes. Maybe if he had he would have gone straight back to Dumbledore.

.

.

Diagon Alley is a mess of colors and people who won’t stop staring at her with near reverent look in their eyes. Everyone wants to shake her hand, wants to run their eyes over her face as if her good luck might be contagious.

Not every face holds reverence. There are some who look at her with anger burning in their eyes, some who look as if they would sweep her away if Hagrid was not standing here next to her.

She hates it.

It makes her skin crawl.

Hates that all these people see when they look at her is her parents.

Hates that they want to fawn over her for something she can’t remember and something she can take no credit for.

Hates that they seem to think she’s happy to talk to them about something that cost her a happy life, her parents, her childhood.

.

.

The only interesting interaction to come out of the entire trip is meeting Draco Malfoy.

.

.

He's in the Madam Malkin's at the same time she is and when she says her name, his eyes flick to her scar for a split second before sweeping over the rest of her. His eyes linger on her hair and trace the scar lines down the side of her face. He looks as if he wants to say something, looks as if she's shattered every expectation he's had.

"Draco. Draco Malfoy." is all he finally says in response and then he tells her all about Quidditch and why he's determined to take a broom with him to Hogwarts.

He makes Harri’s fingertips itch and he’s the first person who hasn't looked immediately reverent upon hearing her name. He makes her fingertips itch and something under her skin aches and she decides that she is going to keep this one as a friend.

She lets Hagrid’s words about houses and evil and the Malfoy's wash over her. She is going to make her own way in this strange new world and she is going to pay very careful attention to anyone who makes her magic feel like it's buzzing just at the surface of her skin.

.

.

She meets Ron Weasley at the train station and when their eyes meet her magic surges to the surface, ready to burst free and she sees something similar echoed back to her in Ron’s eyes. The rest of the family barely registers to her.

They sit together on the train and he tells her about growing up with six siblings. Of constantly feeling overlooked, underappreciated. Tells her what it feels like to constantly be surrounded by people but always feel lonely.

Her magic quietly hums under her skin the entire train ride and she thinks she could get used to this feeling.

It’s her second interaction with the wizarding world and she’s already found another person that makes her magic hum. This is either very lucky or very suspect. She hasn’t decided which yet.

.

.

Potter, Harriette rings out in the hall and the silence that descends feels awestruck.

A wisp of a girl steps forward and there’s a collective intake of breath. She looks nothing like anyone expects. Most of them had been waiting for a feminine version of James Potter. If asked, they would not be able to tell you why that was the expectation they had.

.

_(Severus Snape see Harri for the first time and nearly chokes on the pain suddenly strangling him. He wants to hate this girl who looks so much like his dead best friend and he finds himself hoping that she is James incarnate, just so that it will be easier to hate her.)_

.

What they get instead is a girl with hair the color of blood and eyes so bright they make the killing curse look dull. The scar on her forehead is pale against her dark skin and stretches it way from her forehead, down the side of her left cheek. A vivid reminder of who she is. She looks very little like James Potter. Her hair is wilder than Lily's ever was and she shares his dark skin but otherwise she could be the spitting image of Lily. Although, even Lily Evans would look dim next to Harri. It looked as if magic had woken and taken up residence underneath her skin. As if the brightness of her eyes would manifest into a living being at any time.

So, really when the hat screams out Slytherin the teachers shouldn’t have been so surprised. Lily Evans had been bright and beautiful, yes, but she had also been vicious and vindictive. She had worn the green tie around her neck like a medal of honor and James Potter had fallen in love with her because of her personality, not in spite of it.

_(And Merlin, how it had rankled that after all the bullying, all the hatred, Potter had loved Lily for the exact same things he had hated Snape for.)_

Oh, but the lions liked to remember Lily as pure and virtuous. Didn’t like to remember the viciousness that she fought with or the dark magic that sometimes lingered on her skin.

So, when the hat screams out Slytherin, no one should have been surprised. However, the entire hall goes silent in shock and Harriette Potter walks to the Slytherin table in silence.

.

.

You would think that no other sorting could possible top that of Harriette Potter. Except that Ronald Weasley sits on the stool for seven minutes and finally the hat screams out Slytherin and you can hear a pin drop before every Weasley in the hall, with the exception of Ron, starts screaming.

The Weasley’s had always been in Gryffindor. Always brave and righteous and always, always on the side of the light. People tended to forget however, that Arthur was the son of a Black and Molly was a Prewett first and a Weasley second. She also had a Black for an aunt. And the Black’s were always, always in Slytherin. It was inevitable that one of the Weasley children would be sorted in Slytherin eventually. Blood always shows.

Maybe, maybe if Ron hadn't met a girl with fire for hair, who listened when he told her that he felt over looked, maybe he would have gone to Gryffindor. But Harri was in Slytherin and she was his first friend that was just his. She was the first person to look at him and see someone outside of the being just another Weasley child.

So, yes, maybe once upon a time Ron would have gone to Gryffindor and kept with tradition and made his family proud. This is not that story.

This is the story of a Ron who looks at Harri and sees the future. He's eleven years old and he already knows he would follow her no matter where she goes.

.

.

Harri is unsure as to why everyone is so shocked that Ron has been sorted into Slytherin. She’s sure it has something to do with some wizard tradition that is she woefully ignorant on and she cares about her dignity too much to just ask someone. She's also sure there will be enough gossip in the coming days that she'll figure it out on her own.  

She waves Ron into the seat next to her when he gets over to the table. There's a satisfied gleam in his eyes and, okay, she would absolutely love to know what kind of family drama he just started, but she has enough tact to not say anything. Especially not where the entire table can hear them.

Malfoy, who is sitting directly across from them, seems to lack that same tact.

"So, Weasley, you have to tell me. What did you bribe the hat with to get placed in Slytherin?" he asks, leaning across the table, a smirk on his face. A dark-haired girl with a pug nose laughs loudly and Hari throws her a disgusted glance. It hadn't been that funny, there was no need to make a spectacle of yourself.

"Didn't bribe anyone, Draco. What old gods did you piss off for your parents to give you such a poncy name?" Ron throws back and Harri is impressed. He hadn't seemed like he would be one to think up responses so quickly but she should have known better. Her magic never lied to her.

Draco's face turns an unflattering shade of red and everyone within hearing distance has turned to watch them. The older years look pleased at Malfoy's put down.

"You should watch yourself, Potter," Draco spits. "You wouldn't want to associate yourself with the wrong sort." He's still glaring at Ron, even as he warns her away. Which she finds amusing considering that Hagrid had said something along the same lines after she had met Draco.

She raises an eyebrow. “I was under the impression this entire house was the wrong sort.”

Draco finally stops glaring at that, turning to look at her with a blank face that is ruined by the red splotches still on his cheeks. "Then why, please tell, did you deign to get sorted here."

"Maybe the hat just thought I was a really good fit for Slytherin." she says cheerily and a mousy looking boy on Draco's right snorts into his pumpkin juice.

Draco scoffs, "And I suppose you're going to tell me that, Weasley was also just meant to be here."

"Unless you're suggesting that the sorting hat is defective?" she says, tilting her head to the side. Ron looks up when he hears his name but seems content to eat and watch them.

"Well maybe it is, Potter. You're kind was never meant to be in Slytherin's great house." the pug noised girl from earlier chimes in suddenly, spitting the words out with such venom Harri is vaguely surprised that she doesn't fall of the bench.

" _My kind._ " she echoes the words and feels eyes heavy on her face. "Tell me, what exactly is my kind?" she asks, turning her gaze onto the girl, eyes unwavering.

"Filthy." the girl spits immediately, "Unnatural, a curse on our society. Worthless and stupid and..."

"Pansy, enough." and older boy suddenly appears behind her, "We are in public and you will not disgrace our house with your foolishness." the boy whispers viciously before leveling Harri with a cold look. He's gone before Pansy can think up a response. Harri follows the boy to a group of sixth years farther down the table before turning her gaze back to Pansy.

"Yes, Pansy. Do be quiet." she murmurs, pushing just enough of her magic into her voice that Pansy goes immediately pale. She turns back to Draco, only to find him staring at her with an unnerved look on his face.

"You want to know why I was sorted into Slytherin?" she asks and Draco gives her a wary nod, the rest of the first years have all turned curious faces toward her. A boy with skin darker than hers is still looking between her and Pansy with a hungry gleam in his eyes. Something to be concerned about later.  

She smiles and reaches a hand across the table, "Give me your hand."

Draco's mask falls at that. Everyone around is staring at her like she's insane and Ron is still calmly eating, seemingly unconcerned with whatever she's doing.

"Excuse me?" Draco says, voice incredulous.

She just stares at him until he sighs and gingerly reaches for her hand. Her magic goes haywire the moment his hand touches her and she sees his eyes widen in surprise. He twitches once as if he's about to snatch his hand back but Harri tightens her grip and sends some of her magic toward him and he stills.

Ron has stopped eating to stare at them and then abruptly he pulls them apart by grabbing her robes. She nearly topples of her seat and probably would have if Ron didn't have such a tight grip on her robes.

"Your hair is absolutely sparking," he viciously whispers. "And you look like your skin was about to start doing the same," he says, pointedly jabbing at Draco.

"My apologies, Ron. I wasn't aware that would happen." she murmurs, all while never taking her eyes of Draco's pale face.

She sweeps a look over the rest of the first years, smiling viciously at those who are still watching them and then starts putting food on her plate.

_(She doesn't notice the dark eyes at the staff table watching them.)_

 

 

_III. Here there be snakes_

Harri's first night in the Slytherin dorms go about how you would expect them to. Pansy spits threats and insults her blood while the rest of the 1st year girls watch. Pansy is the only one willing to put her hatred out in the open so blatantly.

Greengrass watches her with wary eyes and Davis seems to follow Greengrass's lead. Bullstrode doesn't seem to care about her one way or another.

Harri sits cross legged in her bed for at least 30 minutes, curtains drawn and focuses on sending her magic out. Covers her bed with as much protection as she can. She has no idea what will happen if someone tries to get into her bed but it will not be pleasant. She used to do this around her desk in primary school. It didn't work outside of school but it kept her classmates from sabotaging her work. After the first few weeks they had all gotten the message, do not mess with the freaks desk or something humiliating will happen to you. It had made the bullying worse outside of class but it had been worth it.

This should provide the same protection for her bed and once she has a better grasp on magic she'll see about putting up some proper wards to keep people out.

 

_When she wakes up the next morning Pansy is red faced and furious, demanding that she undo whatever curse she had placed on her bed. Harri sweeps a glance over her, taking in the way her nose now resembles a pig snout and she laughs, bares her teeth at Pansy in a parody of a smile and walks out the door._

.

.

Harri quickly grows used to the wary looks that the rest of the school shoots all of Slytherin. Grows used to the way the teachers stare at her as if she's violated some unwritten rule. McGonagall purses her lips at her in Transfiguration.

Harri has taken to sitting in between Ron and Draco during classes and McGonagall sweeps narrowed eyes over the three of them before moving on.

Flitwick doesn't much seem to care about her house, or anyone's house if she's being honest. Upon reading roll for the first time he falls of a pile of books in excitement and the entire class would probably laugh if they weren't too busy staring at Harri.

The other teachers don't seem to care about her sorting one way or another, or at least they don't care in a way that is visible to Harri.

Of course the hostility of the rest of the school was nothing compared to potions class. Nothing could have prepared her for the passive aggressive hatred that was Snape.

.

.

Potions takes place in the dungeons and Harri follows the rest of her year mates down. The Gryffindors are muttering between themselves, throwing glances at Harri.

"My siblings always swear that Snape is the meanest teacher in the castle." Ron mutters from her right, "They said he favors Slytherin but I don't know if that's going to apply to me."

"Just because you're a Weasley doesn't mean that he's going to torture you." Draco sniffs, "As long as you don't embarrass our house you'll have nothing to worry about." Draco is smirking as he speaks, implying that Ron has quite a bit to be worried about.  

They filter into the classroom, the Gryffindor's going on one side of the room and the Slytherin's on the other. Harri ends up at a table between Ron and Draco, as usual and hopes that the presence of Draco at the table will sooth whatever misgivings Snape has about a Weasley being in his house.

The entire room falls silent as Snape sweeps into the classroom, the rumors had spread quickly and no one was willing to get on Snape's bad side sooner than they had to.

Snape begins class by calling roll and when he says Harriette's name he pauses. There's a heavy silence as Snape stares at her and Harri, Harri refuses to blink. Holds his eyes and refuses to back down. This is not Surrey, she does not have to act like a cowed dog here and she will not let some teacher with a foul temper tip her back into that act.

Snape does eventually look away and continue calling roll. Ron and Draco have both leaned in slightly closer to her, their arms brushing hers. Snape's staring at her unnerved them as well. They had all thought Ron would be the one to incite Snape's wrath but he doesn't even blink when he calls Ron's name.

Snape finishes calling roll and sweeps dark eyes over the classroom. His eyes linger on a few of the Gryffindors before he begins to speak.

_"You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion-making," he began. He spoke in barely more than a whisper, but they caught every word—like Professor McGonagall, Snape had the gift of keeping a class silent without effort. "As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses... I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death—if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach."_

The class is deathly silent, no one daring to say anything. Snape stares at them, waiting for something but whatever he was waiting on doesn't happen.

"I'm sure most of you dunderheads will manage to destroy even the most basic potion but lets see if you're not all as hopeless as the usual batch of first years." he finally sneers out and maybe Harri is imagining it but she swears his eyes linger on her longer than the others.

 

Snape sets them to working on a forgetfulness potion and Harri is determined to get this perfect no matter what. Snape clearly has a low opinion of her already, for whatever reason, and she will not make it worse. She's going to prove her worth in this world even if it kills her.

By the time class is nearly over she's feeling fairly confident in her potion. It's turned a pale gray color, everything seems to be going well, and then Longbottom has to go and blow up a cauldron. As luck would have it Longbottom is directly across the aisle from them and some of the potion manages to splash across the space and land on Harri and Draco.

Draco immediately starts throwing a fit but Harri glances down at the burning on her hands and robes and then glances at the last step on the board. She spares only a moment's thought to wondering how in the bloody hell Longbottom had managed to botch his potion so bad that it was burning her before she made the split second decision to finish her potion before worrying about her hands.

 

She did say she was going to prove herself even if it kills her. Might as well put her actions where her mouth is.

 

She's mid final stir, posed to cast the ending spell to complete the potion when she realizes that the classroom has gone deathly silent.

"Potter. Do you realize that your skin is burning?" Snape's voice is hard but not quite as cruel as it had been earlier.

She finishes the final stir before glancing up. The entire class is staring at her. Longbottom and his partner appear to have disappeared, presumably to the infirmary.

Draco is still on her right, jaw clenched and face pale but it seems as if he's unwilling to leave without her. Which is surprisingly sweet considering they only met the day before.

She looks back at Snape, meets his eyes and then performs the ending spell. She's gratified to see the potion turn a pale lavender. Perhaps a few shades off but never less, correct.

"Yes, Professor Snape. I am very much aware the my skin is burning. i'm not entirely sure how I could have missed it. May Draco and I be excused?" she keeps her voice level. Injects as much sugary, sweetness into it as she can. Tries to use the exact same tone that she does with Petunia.

Unlike Petunia, Snape does not turn an angry, splotchy red. He merely tilts his head, studies her a moment longer and then jerks his head at the door. For just a moment though, she could have sworn she saw a glimmer of amusement in his eyes. Although, she's too busy grabbing Draco by the sleeve and booking it out of the classroom to really give it much thought.

.

.

Pomfrey heals her hands within minutes, tells her that her hands would have scarred if she had gotten there much later. Harri shrugs it off, it's not as if she isn't already scarred. What are a few blemishes on her hands when her face is a spider web pattern of lightning.

_What are a few scars when her face bears an ever present reminder of her parents sacrifice._

 

_IV. And they are burning, burning, burning_

 

The first time Ron and Draco touch it’s by complete accident and Harri is just happy that it happens in the common room and not in the great hall.

Draco had taken to avoiding touching her after the incident at the welcoming feast and Ron had gone out of his way to avoid it as well. Harri’s not entirely sure why anyone would want to avoid such an amazing feeling. She understands not wanting anyone else to see, at least not until they've gotten the sparking under control but there was something beautiful about feeling powerful enough to take on the world.

They've been in school for two weeks at this point and she feels that Ron and Draco have gotten lulled into a false sense of security. A belief that the rushing of their magic will only happen when they touch her. Perhaps if they hadn't met her, perhaps that would be true but she had woken the wildness of their magic and it was too late to turn back now.

 

It happens in between one breathe and another. It happens and when it does it feels like the entire world should freeze in this moment instead of continuing on.

It happens and Harri, who is on the other side of the common room, whips around. Ron has his hand wrapped around Draco's wrist and their magic is all but dripping from their skin. She can feel it in the air and marvels that the entire common room isn't frozen in the magnificence of this feeling.

.

.

Ron would admit to sometimes thinking that the first two weeks of school had been nothing but a wildly vivid dream. A wildly vivid dream where Harri sparked with magic and he was sorted into Slytherin and where Draco bleeding Malfoy was sort of his friend.

He says sort of because Draco still alternated between calling him Weasley and calling him Ronald. Supposedly saying Ron was too plebeian, although he had no problem with calling Harriette, Harri. He seemed resigned to Ron's presence in his life though and had no qualms about being seen with him. Ron thinks the last bit though is just because he's determined to be Harri's friend.

He hadn't experienced whatever it was that Draco and Harri had at the welcoming feast, although he still remembered the first time he had seen her, the way his magic had rushed to the top of his skin, to his fingers. He had never felt his own magic as clearly as he had that day and if he was being honest, he was terrified of what it would feel like if he touched her. Terrified of what it feels like just being around her.

He had never heard of anyone being able to feel their magic this clearly and is unsure if that's because it just doesn't happen or because no one talks about it. Harri is absolutely no help in that department. The one time he had asked her she had just stared at him before reminding him that she grew up in the muggle world.

He hadn't factored Malfoy into any of these thoughts at all. Harri was the one who had made his magic act up, so it hadn't occurred to him to factor Malfoy in.

Then, one morning, Malfoy trips and Ron, unthinkingly reaches out to grab him and feels his entire world freeze. His hand is wrapped around Malfoy's wrist and his magic is humming, circling, entwining with Malfoy's magic and he has never felt so alive. Never felt so sure that this is real. Malfoy's magic feels like cinnamon and fear and home.

He doesn't know how long they stand there staring at each other before Harri carefully pulls them apart but it's long enough that some of the older years are staring at them curiously.

After that day though, Draco takes to calling him Ron and if he could detect the slightest hint of affection in his voice sometimes, well he was nice enough to not mention it.

.

.

She’s been at Hogwarts for a month before she meets Hermione.

She’s wandering around the sixth floor, attempting to familiarize herself with the castle as much as possible when she happens to stumble upon a couple of upper years with a bushy haired girl backed into a corner.

She’s a bit too far away to clearly hear what they’re saying, but the girls books are scattered on the floor and her face is pale even from a distance. She knows bullying when she sees it and it makes her blood burn.

“Excuse me? I do believe you’re scaring her,” she calls out, keeping her voice deceptively calm.

They jerk around at her voice, wands pointed at her and the girl’s eyes have gone wide and panicked. She can see the girls red tie now and the blue ties hanging around both of their necks.

“Why do you care, little snakey?” the boy on the right jeers, sneer on his face. The other boy seems to recognize her then and starts to look vaguely uncomfortable.

“I don’t like bullying,” Harri replies, not drawing her wand. She doesn’t need it for this.

“And we don’t like little firsties who can’t mind their own business,” the boy on the left snarls, seemingly deciding to ignore who she is. “Now get lost before we teach you a lesson as well.”

She spares an amused thought at the outrage that would cause before focusing again.  

She grins, teeth bared, and she sees the girl’s face go abruptly even paler and she thinks hurt, _hurt, hurt, hurt_ as hard as she can. Focuses on sending her magic to her hands, to her fingertips, focuses on the feeling of power she gets when she touches Draco or Ron and when her hands feel as if they’re going to burn she flings her arms straight out and both boys drop like stones. They don't even have time to look shocked and the girl, she looks terrified, and Harri, well, she may have overdone it a bit. Maybe a lot actually, considering how blurry her vision is getting.

She vaguely registers herself falling to the floor and the last thing she sees before she blacks out is the girl’s pale but determined face in front of hers.

 _(She doesn't learn until much later that Ron and Draco had both felt a sudden spike of rage at the same time. Doesn't realize that a bond is already forming_.

_The prophecy named her savior but there was another that spoke of a girl with magic written into her blood. )_

.

.

When Harri wakes up, the hospital wing is dark and silent. She lays very still, taking stock of her body, of the various aches that have popped up, and the silent hum of her magic still running along her skin. It had been a while since she's had put that much magic into silently casting. She hasn't done it since Hagrid showed up and told her there was a proper word for what she could do.

Told her that she wasn't a freak. Wasn't unnatural.

But Hagrid didn't know she'd been doing magic since she was born. Bending the world around her to fit her needs.

 

_(And no one but Lily and James know that she was born with glowing eyes, magic manifesting within days. No one knows that there's two prophecies both bearing the mark of her name.)_

 

She had always been able to bend reality to her whim. She has vague memories of an imaginary friend that used to tell her how to visualize power running through her and how to direct it. An imaginary friend who used to tell her that it didn't matter who she hurt because they hurt her first. An imaginary friend that had started showing up less and less the more she used her magic. An imaginary friend that she sometimes wondered about because how had an imaginary friend known how to tell her how to use her magic.

She hadn't taken any of his words to heart honestly, but the bitterness had never less slowly built up. Now here she was in a new world, people still bullying those smaller than them, and she was furious. She was not going to stand by and watch this happen when she has all of this power just resting at her fingertips.

She turns over slowly, groaning as her aching muscles protest. The girl she had rescued is in the bed next to her, quietly sleeping, face scrunched into a frown and Harri quietly promises herself that she is going to protect her now. Whether or not they become friends, she is going to protect her.

She falls asleep while absently wondering what happened to the two boys that she hurt.

.

.

The boys that had been bullying Hermione don’t wake up and no one knows why.  The teachers keep them in the infirmary for several days attempting to puzzle out why before they finally give in, call their parents and send them to St. Mungo’s.

Harri was briefly worried that she would be in really big trouble, since it was her fault the boys wouldn’t wake up. But it seemed that Hermione had explained to the teachers what had happened and it was being attributed to accidental magic.

Hermione had apparently spun the story in such a way that Harri came off as scared and righteous. Which, did nothing but paint her in a good light. She would have to be more careful in the future though about using her magic silently. There were only so many times you could use the excuse of accidental magic.

What was really interesting about this, was that Hermione Granger, the resident rule abiding swot that, seemingly the entire school disliked, had structured the story in such a way that Harri got off completely free.

Hermione was also disliked by nearly the entire school, her own house didn't care for her and as far as Harri could tell, she had no friends. They'd been in school for a month and she still had no friends.

Her magic wasn’t strong enough to trigger Harri’s from a distance but she had yet to touch her, so maybe she would be surprised by how strong she is. Either way, she was determined to be Hermione's first friend.

.

.

She finds Hermione in the library, nose in a book and piles of book forming a sort of barrier between her and the world.

She watches her for a moment, head tilted. Her hair is a disaster, skin darker than Harri's, her teeth too big for her face and Harri had heard some of the names her year mates called her. None of the names had been nice. But she had lied for Harri and when Harri had found her cornered in the hallway, it hadn't just been fear on her face. There had been anger lurking in the back of her eyes and Harri wondered if she wouldn't have saved herself if Harri hadn't shown up.

She walks over to the table, sets her books on the table and sits in the chair closest to Hermione. She can feel eyes on her and when she looks up Hermione is staring at her, eyebrows creased.

"Can I help you?"

"I just wanted to say thank you, for not telling the professors what I did." Harri says, watches the way Hermione's eyes narrow.

"I see. So, why are you really over here?" her tone is accusatory and Harri bites back a grin.

"You mean I can't just be here to talk to you?"

"You're a Slytherin."

And oh, that one rankles. That one makes her want to scream. It’s only been a month and she is already so sick of the prejudice against her house.

"I didn't see my house mattering when I was saving you." she bites back and watches Hermione's cheeks turn red.

"I didn't ask you to save me," she snaps, "and besides, I could have saved myself."

"Oh, really? You looked like you were about to cry when I saved you. When I, the slimy slytherin, saved you."

Hermione is all but shaking in her seat, cheeks red, eyes bright and Harri grins, all teeth.

"That!" Hermione exclaims, barely remembering to keep her voice down, "That is why you did it! You smiled like that as soon as the Ravenclaws passed out. You just want the satisfaction of winning."

"You're not wrong exactly." Harri says, considering, "But, I really did want to help you."

"But, why? You don't know me. You haven't ever spoken to me before this."

"I don't like bullies." she snaps and Hermione gets that considering gleam in her eyes again but Harri is done with this train of conversation. She grabs her defense textbook and flips it open to the chapter on imps. She feels Hermione's eyes linger on her for a moment longer before she also goes back to her book.

.

.

Hermione and Harri continue to meet in the library every day for a week. It takes a couple days but Hermione eventually acclimates to the idea that Harri actually does want to be friends with her. She still throws a lot of narrow eyed glances at her, when she thinks Harri isn't looking but for the most part they get along fairly well.

Hermione is viscously smart and leagues ahead of the rest of her classmates. She can pull out answers to the most random questions and she can find the answers to questions twice as fast as Harri can. She still doesn’t make Harri’s magic burn, which is unfortunate, but when they sit close to each other she can feel her skin start to slightly buzz.

She has a deep suspicion that Hermione has a very tight leash on her magic and that if they were to touch Hermione’s magic would spring forward to meet hers.

.

.

The first time Hermione takes a seat at the Slytherin table you could have heard a pin drop in the Great Hall. All eyes are on them and she can feel Draco glaring at them from across the table.

Hermione is beyond pale, fingers white where they’re gripping her bag but her jaw is set and her eyes are daring anyone to make a comment.

Harri, unbeknownst to anyone, even Ron and Draco, had extended the offer to eat with them the night before. She says offer but really it was like she had sweet talked Hermione into sitting with her. She had no intention of keeping her friendships a secret so it would be best if they just went ahead and got it out of the way.  

Hermione is chattering away about schoolwork, clearly wishing other conversation would pick back up but also attempting to ignore the deafening silence that has descended. Harri has the feeling that all of Slytherin is waiting for her to tell Hermione to get lost. Has the feeling that they expect her to tell Hermione to get lost. Draco clearly expects it if the glare he’s still directing at Hermione is anything to go by.

The silence manages to grow even more deafening however, when Harri starts chatting back. Harri is about to ask for an explanation as to why the staircases follow the patterns that they do when Draco finally decides he’s had enough.

“Potter. What are you doing?” he asks, voice strained. Harri looks at him, glances down at the bagel in her hand, looks back at him.

“I’m clearly eating, Draco? Are you feeling quite alright?” she cocks her head at him, Ron snickers at the fake worry she's injected into her tone.

Draco makes a strangled noise and Hermione has gone quiet.

She glances up and down the table, every eye still on them.

“You know, Hermione. I’m beginning to feel a certain amount of hostility.” She hears a few strangled laughs, “Why don’t we finish our breakfast elsewhere?” Hermione is staring at her, out of her depth and still far too pale.

Harri stands up, casually gathers her stuff and flicks a glance at Ron. Chin propped in one hand, he’s been watching the three of them with careful eyes.

“Come on, let’s go finish our breakfast elsewhere.” She directs her stare at Draco, gaze commanding and he pales drastically. “Are you coming, Draco?” she asks lightly.

Ron has already gathered his stuff and is waiting at her right elbow, Hermione at her left. Draco's gaze flickers between the three of them and she sees something dark and ugly in his gaze before it disappears. There’s a long pause where Draco takes in all the eyes on him, takes in the expectation in her eyes and finally, finally he stands.

“I hope you know what you’re doing, Harri.” he mutters as he comes around the table to meet them. Her grin is bright and Draco looks as if he wishes he was back at the table, away from crazy Potters.

_(Sometimes when Draco looks at Harri, Ron and Hermione he's overcome with this feeling of wrongness. Feels as if they're going to wake up one day and realize they hate him. Feels as if he was never meant to be in this group. It makes something dark and angry unfurl in his chest and he hates it, hates it, hates it.)_

**Author's Note:**

> If you don't like Harriette I'm sorry, not your cup of tea I get it, but also realize, I don't care. So commenting on it will change nothingggggggggg
> 
> this is the link to the moodboard that @cubedcoffeecake made for my story!  
> https://archiveofourown.org/collections/tomarrybigbang2018/works/15991244


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